Joe Biden stumps for Kurt Schrader

Kari Chisholm

Yesterday, the Vice President was in Portland to show his support for Congressman Kurt Schrader. Here's a round-up of the coverage.

The AP takes the lead by noting that the Biden visit underlines the swing-district nature of the race.

The Hill took note that Schrader's been cross-wise with the administration on the war in Afghanistan:

Vice President Joe Biden praised Afghanistan war critic Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.) Thursday for speaking his mind.

“I encourage you, old buddy, to speak out,” Biden said at a fundraiser for Schrader in Portland, Ore.

The freshman Democrat has emerged as a fierce critic of the war in Afghanistan.

“It’s a waste of resources, a waste of America’s best and brightest,” he recently told The Oregonian newspaper. “I’m for fighting a war on terrorism, not a war in Southwest Asia that Alexander the Great couldn’t win, the British Empire couldn’t win, the Soviet Union couldn’t win. That’s stupid. We need to be bringing these men home.”

Biden praised Schrader for being “independent.”

“You’re independent. Don’t let anybody take that out of you,” he said, according to the pool report.

The Oregonian's Harry Esteve noted that Biden blasted the Republicans for breaking America - and that it's Democrats who have been fixing the country without any help from the GOP.

The Statesman-Journal's Peter Wong also noted the disagreement between Schrader and the administration over Iraq.

The Mercury's Sarah Mirk complained that the White House allowed only one reporter into the event. (But Sarah, the traditional approach is that all fundraisers are closed -- so this represents an opening of coverage.)

The approach from right-leaning KXL is as pathetic as it is predictable. The entirety of their coverage relates to some outside protesters and Scott Bruun's reaction. Talk about dropping the lede.

By Kari Chisholm July 09, 2010